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Skyjack fined after pleading guilty in worker injury

Company didn't provide a suitable, safe platform from which employee could repair boom truck, finds justice
20190628 Skyjack Guelph KS 01
Skyjack facility in Guelph. Kenneth Armstrong/GuelphToday file photo

COURT BULLETIN
MINISTRY OF LABOUR
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Convicted: Skyjack Inc., 287 Speedvale Avenue West in Guelph, a manufacturer of elevated material handling equipment such as boom trucks and scissor lifts.

Location of Workplace: The company's workplace is at 201 Woodlawn Road West, Guelph, Ont.

Description of Offence: A worker suffered a critical injury after falling from a boom truck.

Date of Offence: Aug. 22, 2018.

Date of Conviction: Oct. 4, 2019.

Penalty Imposed:

  • Following a guilty plea, Skyjack Inc. was fined $45,000 by Justice of the Peace Michael A. Cuthbertson in provincial court in Guelph; Crown Counsel Tom Schneider.
  • The court also imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

Background:

  • On Aug. 22, 2018, a worker for Skyjack Inc. was removing a flange pin from the boom of a Skyjack boom truck at the company's Woodlawn Road location. The worker was in a kneeling position on top of the cowling, which is the cover of the body of the truck and about seven feet above ground level.
  • The cowling is made of smooth fibreglass and slopes toward the boom and is only 21 inches wide.
  • The worker was using pry bars to release the flange pin when the pin gave way, causing the worker to fall backwards off the cowling. The worker suffered critical injuries.
  • Skyjack as an employer neither provided a suitable and safe platform upon which the worker could carry out the work nor did it take other measures to protect the worker from the danger of falling.
  • The defendant did not take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances, contrary to section 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

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